I sigh, Van was still asleep at this point and it was budging on 6:00 am, I wanted, I needed to leave, go back to England, go to Ireland or even Scotland. Anywhere. I quickly throw everything into my suitcase, grab my laptop and leg it down to reception,
"Name please." the lady at front desk says blankly,
"Penelope Smith, I'm with Catfish and the Bottlemen, room 189, here's my key." I say in a rush and throw it on the desk, I wait for a taxi.
20 minutes went by until i decided to call one, it arrived 10 minutes after, I jump in and book my plane ticket back to England which leaves in two hours,
"Where to?" the taxi driver asks,
"The airport please." I mumble, he glares at my through his mirror.
----------------------------
||VANS POV||
I bang on Bondy's door in panic,
"She's gone, she vanished, what if her dad kid-naped her!" I say so fast I could audition for the small text on an advert,
"Dude, slow down, she cant be far. Let me get ready and we will ask reception if she checked out at any point or if anyone asked for her." Bondy says calmly.
I wait impatiently outside Bondy's room, then he slowly walks out of his room and down to reception, we go down 38 levels until we finally reach the lady that surely must have heard something,
"Have you heard anything from a woman named Penelope Smith room 189?" Bondy asks leaning himself against the front desk, she flips through a huge book for a few seconds,
"Yes, she handed her key in this morning at six, she seemed in a rush and rather flustered." She says with a blanked expression,
"But I don't know where she went after that." she says with more confusion and furrowed brows, I throw my head back in frustration,
"Why? if she ran away, why are you so worried about her?" she says with more interest now,
I flung my head back up, "whats it to you anyway, all you want is a bit of gossip! If I don't find her she could be in serious trouble!" I say getting more and more frustrated by the second.
Bondy puts a hand on my shoulder, "Dude, we have practice soon, you should have a shower and calm down a bit, I'm sure she will contact sooner or later, you know what she's like." I smile a weak smile and walk sloppily back to her room.
||A FEW MONTHS AHEAD||
PENELOPE
'Catfish and the Bottlemen playing at the Dublin arena, September the 1st 2016. @7pm' I stare at it,
"Katie? Earth to Katie?" I jump out of my trance, my university friend Val laughs at me as I stare at the poster,
"Do you wanna go to the concert, I love Catfish and the Bottlemen." she beams, tucking her red hair behind her pale ears.
Val was the most beautiful girl I'd ever met, she had long red hair, pale freckly skin, these bright green eyes, pink plump lips, she had a slim tall figure, she was a typical Irish lass and I loved her.
"I know you like them too, all those pictures you had on your laptop and camera where amazing!" she beams but then acts sheepish,
"You went through my pictures!" I scream at her, she laughs and pulls me into a hug,
"Nah, I'm kidding... But do you actually like them?" I nod my head,
"I love Van!" She brags, I shot my head up, I hadn't spoken to him in months... I missed him. "He's just so hot!" she carries on, I fade out of our conversation until we get to her house,
"Don't you think so?" She asks,
"Huh? Pfff yea sure, I agree!" she looks at me with a raised eyebrow,
"So you were not listening..." she says opening her door and throwing her bag down on the dinning table.
"I think we should go to the concert." I say, she hugs me and jumps up and down,
"Oh thank you, thank you." she screams, I laugh and tap her back to tell her, please get off.
Of course I knew what I was doing, plunging into a big black hole without thought behind it, I think I could lose a friend for lying about my name and not telling her I was really good friends with Van McCann. But of course I'm taking the risk, I was always told- whats life without risks?
----------------------------
7 pm was coming up quickly but luckily Dublin arena was down the road, walking distance.
I put on what I wore when I first met Van, black and white turtle neck, black ripped jeans, Doc Matens, winged eyeliner, red lipstick, hair in space buns and my leather jacket.
Perfect, I say in my head again. Val walks in and stares at me, she gives me the weirdest face ever,
"What?" I ask harshly, staring at her,
"Nothing, don't worry about it." She says raising her hands, I role my eyes and grab my phone along with my packet of cigarettes.
"Thought you promised you wouldn't smoke anymore." Val says disappointed,
"Well sometimes promises get broken," I say taking a drag and walking off "you coming or what?" I say turning round and raising my arms, almost getting hit by a car but then flipping them off, I hear Val laugh from across the road,
"I do love you Katie Smith, even if you don't love me that much." she shouts behind me, I pause in my tracks and smile, I run up to her, kiss her forehead,
"I'll always love you Valerie Tomlin." I say throwing my arm round her shoulder...
--------------------------------
||VANS POV||
"Um, Kal... The usual question, could you please keep an eye out for Penelope?" I ask, I always asked and I will until one day she turns up, I worry about her... Only because I love her...
"Yep, sure thing..." he sighs, I walk backstage where fans have started filing in...
It was time to go on stage and so far there was no sight of Penelope.
||KALS POV||
One girl after another and none of them looked like Penelope, I don't know why Van just doesn't give up already.
But then I notice somebody who looked a lot like her, I stopped her and her friend in their tracks,
"Hi, sorry to disturb to lovely ladies like you, but Van is looking for you Penelope." I say right upfront, I see her friends jaw drop with excitement, Penelope's face goes white like a ghost,
"Sorry Wrong person, I'm Katie..." She says hanging her head,
"Nope, sorry I'm playing this game, I'm not stupid and neither is Dean!" I say sternly to her holding onto her arm,
"Fine go get Dean, go tell him that I Penelope have finally arrived after so many months of ignoring Van because I'm an ignorant git!" I spit at him, I then turn to Val,
"I lied, I'm Penelope Smith, my dad was famous in the 90's, then killed himself but came back from the dead, my mum died in a car accident and killed my unborn sibling because she was high on drugs and yes I was friends with Van for a good month or so, then I ran away and changed my name so he or the guys couldn't find me because I was such a disgusting human being!" I scream.
I take in a deep breathe, "well, take me to the Van McCann." I say calmly.
